Posts Tagged ‘world map’

Recently the F.B.I. (the US Federal Bureau of Investigation) has adopted a new computer system which allows them to conduct 165,000 fingerprint checks a day – more than twice faster than the previous system did! More interestingly, fingerprints vary significantly among the ethnic populations around the world!

The FBI has begun using a new computer system that takes just seven minutes to search a database of 70 million sets of fingerprints for a possible match with the fingerprints of a suspect. That’s down from the old average search time of 17 minutes. In a recent side-by-side, five-day test of the new and old computer systems, the new FBI system turned up 910 additional matches between prints submitted to the bureau and prints in the FBI’s database from earlier arrests. Engineers computed the accuracy rate of the new system at 99.6 percent, compared with the rate of 92 percent for the old system, which had been in use for more than a decade.

THE FBI DESCRIBES 8 FINGERPRINT TYPES:

Each single fingerprint in a person has unique minitue characteristics. However, fingerprints also have characteristics which do not vary among every person! These characteristics are described by the fingerprint ‘types’.

However, in time various fingerprint type systems have been developed. Sir Francis Galton presented at the end of the 19th century the classic model for fingerprint type recognition – the model was based on the number of deltas (triradii) that are present in a fingerprint, result in 3 types: whorls, loops and arches.

But since the 80’s the FBI’s model for fingerprint classification became generally accepted as the best model to study the fingerprint types. In their classic work ‘The Science of Fingerprints‘, the FBI presents the following 8 fingerprint types:

The 8 fingerprint types described by the F.B.I.

ETHNIC POPULATIONS & FINGERPRINT TYPES:

The occurence of the individual fingerprint types vary among the populations around the world. This was e.g. described by the Fingerprint World Map, which was earlier presented.

In 2005 a US study focussed on the local variations of the 7 most common fingerprint types: the whorl, ulnar loop, radial loop, tented arch, arch, central pocket loop, and the double loop (only the least common of the FBI types, the ‘accidental whorl’, was not included in the study).

The study was conducted among a sample of 20.000 US people, including: 5.000 asians, 5.000 blacks, 5.000 hispanics, and 5.000 whites.

And it is very interesting to see that this ‘local’ sample from the US state Georgia, confirms the patters that are also seen in the 1943 ‘fingerprints world map’ + the samples which I have featured in my article:

– Whorls are BY FAR most common among asians (and on the ring finger);– Ulnar loops are most common among blacks & whites (and on the pinky finger);– Radial loops are BY FAR most common among whites (and BY FAR on the index finger);– Arches are most common among in blacks & hispanics (and on the index finger).

A world map based on the pattern-index of fingerprints around the world.

The science of fingerprint interpretation has still a long road ahead before it’s value will be recognized everywhere around the world. Most people are only aware of the fact that each single fingerprint has it’s own unique characteristics – which makes every fingerprint unique in any person. However, beyond the aspect of personal identification, there is another spectrum hidden in the characteristics of the finger glyphs: a perspective that relates to the qualities of your chromosomes & genes… and your health!

The unique characteristics of your fingerprints were already established before you were born. But while it is relatively easy to recognize/describe the uniqueness of a single fingerprint, it is much harder to ‘read’ other info from a fingerprint.

THE ART OF COMBINATION:

Using fingerprint for diagnostic matters requires an understanding of how to discriminate common fingerprint characteristics from rare- or even ‘suspected’ characteristics – in a diagnostic context.

Medical science learns us that unusual dermatoglyphic patterns (usually a combination of fingerprints & palmar dermatoglyphs) often relate to genetic disorders. But is it possible to make a reliable diagnosis from the fingerprints only?

SEXE DIFFERENCES:

Studies around the world nearly always indicate that fingerprints show typical variations among males and females: whorls are more common in the hands of males, arches are more common in the hands of females. And regarding loops: radial loops are usually slightly more common in males, and ulnar loops in females.

ETHNIC DIFFERENCES:

Fingerprint studies around the world have also confirmed that fingerprints also vary with the location in the world. Asians are known for having more whorls, North-Europeans are known for having more loops, and certain tribes in Central Africa are known for having more arches.

FINGER VARIATIONS:

But there is another specific characteristic that has hardly ever been described thoroughly. Because the major fingerprint types typically manifest in different ratios among the fingers.

A few examples:

• ULNAR LOOPS are in all world populations (males & females) seen in the large majority on the pinky finger. And a likewise pattern is seen for the middle finger.

• WHORLS are usually the most dominant type on the thumb, index finger & ring finger; but the prevalance of whorls is typically only slightly higher than the prevalance of ulnar loops.

• RADIAL LOOPS are typically only seen on the index finger (though these are also not uncommon on the middle finger).

• ARCHES are most often seen on the index finger, but they are also not uncommon for the middle finger & thumb.

THE UNIVERSAL PATTERN:

Fingerprint studies have indicated that in nearly all regions of the world the loop is found to be the most common fingerprint type. And therefore the distributions for the arches & whorls become decisive.